o move on. Our motto came into my head and I felt like I could be

e I could find and I had a black, gold, and circular rug that had little white bunnies hopping around the edges on the white maple wood floor. I had begged my mom for it because it was unique and I felt like it was special; like it was one of a kind. My bed had a big black headboard and comfortable blue bedding with multicolored stars on it. I had a lot of posters of the bands and singers I liked on the sky-b

red and the other three pitch black. I also got silky black sheets and got rid of my pink curtains to replace them with heavy black velvet ones that I drew over my tall, arched window. I even bought red Christmas lights that I strung over my curtain rod. Everything pink or blue got put away and my room was finally as dark as I felt. When my mom came home from

om said with sarcasm as the light from the hallway

of the stars and not the harsh light and unfavora

ad been a week since school ended and as I met West and Ariel on the sidewa

ll there and his mother started to cry as she led us to the door. She was a frail woman and looked thinner than I remembered, but I couldn't tell. Her forlorn blue eyes ringed with dark circles and premature wrinkles seemed to stare through us as if she didn't recognize us and she li

d a few games he lent Nate. We sorted everything into boxes. Most of it was supposed to go to Goodwill and West took stuff that he thought Ethan would want to keep. It was hard when we found Nate's sketchbooks. We didn't want to give them to just one of us so we decided to ke

of Nate's siblings that Nate got along with. He looked as broken as the rest

o turn away from those eyes. Ariel and I looked down at the last box w

he faced away and fought his break down. "Please?" Owen squeaked with his big blue eyes going to me. Ariel was looking down into a box with her hands braced on either side and I looked down at Owen. I felt so bad for him

us." I told him softly, seeing his lip

breaking my heart along with his striking resemblance to his l

parents and only wished there was something I could do to protect Owen from his violent father and toxic older sisters. He was sobbing into my shirt that he clutched in his small hands. I hadn't realized how attached he'd grown to me. I

ony chest heaving with his sobs. "You have to take care of yourself and stay strong. I know you can do it." I had a hard time pulling my lips into a sad smile and was swallowing my

g the others out of the house. I heard Nate's father shouting at his mothe